The Removalists remains a brutal commentary on Australian masculinity. This new production treats women with empathy
- Written by: Denise Varney, Professor of Theatre Studies, The University of Melbourne
The Removalists was first performed in 1971 at La Mama Theatre, Carlton, by the Australian Performing Group, an ensemble of young graduates, artists and friends.
A beacon of the New Wave of Australian drama, David Williamson was part of a new generation of theatre artists who were interested in reflecting Australia back to its audiences. Now one of Australia’s most prolific playwrights, Williamson’s early plays are part of the repertoire of modern Australian classics.
The Removalists was just his fourth play. A brutal commentary on Australian masculinity, it was a dark turn for the young artist.
A crooked cop, an easily corruptible young constable, a boozy husband and father who beats his wife and demands his dinner, and a removalist who sees no evil, does no evil. A new production by the Melbourne Theatre Company, directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, celebrates the enduring appeal of the play.
A suburban police station
We begin in a police station. Young constable Neville Ross (William McKenna) is being inducted into the force by a bitter, manipulative, rule-bending sergeant, Dan Simmons (played with menace by the moustachioed Steve Mouzakis).
When middle class sisters Kate (Jessica Clarke) and Fiona (Eloise Mignon) enter to report domestic violence, Simmonds asks invasive questions about Fiona’s relationship to her beer-swilling loudmouth husband Kenny (Michael Whalley).
Fiona initially expressed uncertainty about making the complaint. Kate insisted on going to the police. The action that follows exposes the humiliation that accompanies reports of domestic violence.
In an excruciating moment, Kate stands by watching while Simmonds asks Fiona to show him the bruises on her back and upper thigh. Fiona is unsure as she turns her back to the auditorium, slowly pulls up her jumper and exposes the bruises on her bare back.
Under Sarks’ direction, it is a moment filled with empathy.
Enter the removalist
The action shifts in act two to Fiona’s place. Expecting Kenny to be out drinking, Simmonds – who is expecting sexual favours from Kate – and Ross arrive to help Fiona move into her new flat. But Kenny is home, and sprays a string of obscenities at the policemen. Simmonds cuffs him – and lands a few quiet punches.
The removalist (Martin Blum) interrupts the action, while turning a blind eye to the mayhem. The entrances and exits of the removalist and Ross and the moving of furniture, punctuate the drama with comic effect, injecting a light touch in the midst of the play’s violence.
When the sisters and the removalist leave, the cops beat Kenny in an orgy of violence that is so relentless and brutal, it descends into farce.
The bloody ending has something of the Grand Guignol to it – the 19th century theatre of revenge that descends into comic horror but also raises serious questions about violence in the contemporary real life world.
Critiquing white Australia
Clever balancing of humour and social commentary is the key to Williamson’s critique of the law in relation to violence against women.
In an era of diverse casting, Sarks has cast The Removalists with an all white cast, laying the violence of the play at the feet of white Australian culture.
Matilda Woodroofe’s costumes contribute to the play’s critique of Australian culture. Kenny wears a pair of footy shorts and a t-shirt, Blundstone boots and short black socks, evoking the unoffical uniform of the ocker male Australian.
Onstage seating echos the intimate space of the original theatre, La Mama.
Pia Johnson/MTC
In a novel touch, Dale Ferguson’s set adds rows of onstage seating for those who would like a much closer view of the action. Not only do they get a stronger sense of the onstage actors’ energy and presence, they experience the play as the original audience did in the tiny La Mama theatre.
Just as playwright Williamson targeted a conservative macho ocker culture in the early 1970s, this revival can be understood as its contemporary counterpart. Sarks highlights the particular kinds of violence that is systemic within Australian culture that continues today.
Sarks accords the female characters more dignity and independence than earlier versions. They deliver the same lines, but with confidence that speaks of their self-assurance. Kate uses her gaze to put Simmonds, the disgusting older cop, in his place. After her humiliation at the police station, Fiona rejects Kenny’s appeals.
Sarks accords the female characters dignity and independence.
Pia Johnson/MTC
These subtle and not so subtle changes in the delivery of the women’s lines show how directing an historical play can resist the ideologies that determined more passive roles for women in the past.
The Removalists is at Melbourne Theatre Company until April 17.
Authors: Denise Varney, Professor of Theatre Studies, The University of Melbourne
